Nixa lawmaker seeks longer wait period for abortions

JEFFERSON CITY – Nixa Rep. Kevin Elmer wants to require women to wait 72 hours before having an abortion.

Currently, the law mandates a 24-hour wait between when a woman has her initial examination and when the abortion is performed. At a House hearing this week, Elmer, a Republican, said the law requires women to be given a large amount of information prior to an abortion.

The law requires women who seek an abortion to have the method of abortion described to them, to be told of the medical risks associated with the procedure and alternatives to abortion, among other requirements. The anatomical and physiological characteristics of the fetus must also be described to the woman.

“I think that it’s reasonable to give this mother the opportunity to fully consider what she’s been given,” Elmer said.

Though some of the information given to women seeking an abortion addresses possible medical problems, a 2012 study in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology found that medical complications from abortion are rare and less risky than childbirth.

The House Health Care Policy Committee, controlled by Republicans, appeared to view the legislation, House Bill 1307, favorably. Elmer’s bill was considered alongside an identical bill filed by Rep. Keith Frederick, R-Rolla, during a hearing Wednesday, which was also the 41st anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision.

Frederick, who is an orthopedic surgeon, in providing justification for the extended wait time said he rarely has patients who get surgeries within a day of first speaking with them. Usually he tells them to think about it.

Rep. Jeanne Kirkton, D-Webster Groves, asked if that means the state should place waiting periods on other elective surgeries besides abortion.

“I think any elective surgery where the unrepresented infant is at stake should be 72 hours. Now, when you’re making a decision solely and only for yourself, I don’t think we should enshrine that in law,” Frederick said.

Rep. Sharon Pace, D-St. Louis, asked Elmer if he had done a survey of women to determine if they say they need this extra time. Unlike other types of medical appointments, during which a patient might be alerted to a problem during their first doctor visit, Pace said a woman knows in advance that she is pregnant and has had time to think.

“I would think that a person who comes in and makes that decision has thought about it pretty much over a long period of time,” Pace said.

Elmer said he had not done a survey, but acknowledged that women who come into abortion clinics have likely thought about it beforehand. But he said he wants women to have time to consider information they receive at the exam.

“We have a lot of intelligent females,” Pace said. “And we have the Internet and I’m sure a lot of people access that and get information prior to them going for that particular service.”

Rep. Lynn Morris, R-Nixa, is co-sponsoring the bill.

“I just can’t believe that just postponing this most important decision on life would not be better if we just didn’t have a little bit more time for everyone to think about it,” he said at the hearing.